Conventional cell banking is widely used to maintain stocks of frozen, characterized cells that may be thawed for use in a number of applications, including the production of therapeutically relevant proteins. Typically, cryopreserved stocks are maintained at lower densities or are centrifuged to create higher density aliquots for storage. Lower density stocks do not allow for efficient inoculation of large volume cultures, while centrifugation-based concentration methods can be very damaging to cells (which will become even more fragile during the cryopreservation process). Accordingly, there is a need for improved cell banking methods.